Our 2 year aniversary of getting together (Hi Donald, Sarah and couch).
We packed everything to take with us, since we'd be catching the Hull
train from London. We'd been planning to leave the bags in lockers, same
as everywhere else in Europe. Silly us. Not only have they had Irish
bomb threats, but everywhere we went invoked 'September 11' as their
reason for not having basic train-station facilities. We wound up paying
5 pounds PER BAG for storage - X-rays and all.
Met up with Rachael and Tiff and wandered over to Spitalfields markets
(see last time we were in London) where we ate lunch. There really isn't
much else to see around there, so we went to King's Cross station to get
the train to Doncaster.
The train we wound up getting had already delayed over 20 minutes when
we arrived - but we didn't care because it would still make our
connection. When it finally started moving, the 'customer service
manager' showed a complete lack of public announcement skill - saying
'good morning' after 3pm, stumbling over the names of places, and
obviously reading off a sheet
- even after the 4th time he repeated the details. Quite amusing
really. After about 10 minutes we stopped, and the lights and
ventilation turned off - appears the power to our overhead lines had
gone off. Luckily it was back in about 15 minutes, otherwise we would
have fried!
We had good seats, with a table - and played lots of cards. Doncaster
station had a nice lounge where we played even more cards. The train
to Hull was Diesel (no electrical wires out this way) and we played
more cards...
Hull Station, despite having signs saying 'left luggage', had no
lockers. The security guard told us the same September 11 story, and on
our query about why the rest of Europe didn't worry about it, said that
only America and England had sent troups to Afghanistan. He also called
the rest of Europe 'cowards'. Personally I'd be more inclined to call
the Brits cowards for taking away the lockers that tourists like us
really need.
Taxi to our hotel (it's actually quite cheap, not much more than the bus
ticket anyway). We were staying in a 4 diamond hotel - one of the best
rated in Hull, and with a good vegetarian range of breakfast choices!
The room had an ensuite, though it looked like a tardis that had just
landed in one corner of the room!
Went out for dinner at a nice restaurant - Jasmine's - and ate a
delicious meal, then back to the hotel. It was a good night, though the
bed was too short (seems a common problem in England).
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